Container and device for opening same



Oct. 27, 1925- 1,559,032

I J. P. CURRY CONTAINER AND DEVICE FOR OPENING SAN E Filed April 15. 1924 ATTORNEY I Patented Oct. 27, 1925.,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CONTAINER AND DEVICE" FOR OPENING SAIMIE.

Application filed April 15, 1924, Serial No. 706,628.

To all whom it may concern Be .it known that I, JOHN P. CURRY, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Riverside, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Contain ers and Devices for Opening Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to containers and to devices for opening the same, and more particularly relates to a container provided with special means for facilitating the opening thereof.

Heretofore it has been proposed to open containers and packages by means of a string or tape which has an end exposed on the outside of the package and adapted to be used to tear the paper of the package to facilitate the opening thereof. The necessary projection of the string on the outside of the package prevents the package being made airtight. Also a string cannot be used satisfactorily to tear heavy paper or cardboard. It also requires considerable labor to place the string properly in place on the package.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a simple, efficient and inexpensive device for opening containers, such as cardboard or paper boxes, cartons, packages, and the like, and to provide such a device which may be associated with the container in such a way that it may nevertheless be hermetically sealed, and a device which is adapted for use with containers of heavy paper, cardboard and the like, as well as of thinner materials.

A further object of my invention is to provide a container provided with special means for facilitating opening thereof, which means may be readily and easily operated, and which may be readily and easily incorporated in the container without interfering with the contained goods and without lessening the capacity of the container.

Another object of my invention is to provide a container provided with special means for facilitating opening, which means are completely enclosed in the container and whereby, when a portion of the container is flexed from the outside the container is pierced from the inside and theripping open of a portion of the container is facilitated.

Other objects of my invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In accordance with my invention, I pro vide an opener which is adapted to be completely enclosed in a container, so as to extend between two opposed portions thereof. The opener has a sufficiently sharp perforating end and is sufficient] rigid, so that it may be moved bodily by exing a portion of the container inwardly, and when so moved, the perforating end of the opener will puncture and protrude through a portion of the container, permitting this protruding end of the perforator to be grasped by. the hand and manipulated to rip or cut the container open, in a neat manner, to the desired extent.

In order that a clearer understanding of my invention may. be had, attention vis hereby directed to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application and illustrating certain possible embod ments of my invention.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container enclosing an opener of a preferred form, the opener being shown in dotted outline;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, and shows an end of the opener projected through a portion of the container as a result of flexing one portion thereof toward another portion;

Fig. 3 is a similar View, illustrating one manner in which the opener, after the container has been pierced thereby, may be manipulated to open the container;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the opener removed from the container;

Fig. 5 is a top view of a container with the wrapping open vertically, and amodifled form of opener associated therewith; and

Fig. 6 is an elevation of another modified form of perforator, an associated container being outlined in dot and dash lines.

Similar reference characters refer to sumlar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the container shown in the drawings, for illustrative purposes only, is similar to the extensively used packages which contain twenty cigarettes, and which comprise one or more wrappings of paper and a'wrapping of tinfoil folded over at the top of the package and secured in place by a revenue stamp or other label pasted on the package. Sometimes a wrapmeticall ping of oil paper encloses the package and is hermetically sealed by means of a suitable adhesive.

Considerable inconvenience is required to open such a package, and it is almost impossible to open the package without using two hands. It is usual to open such a package by tearing off a portion of, or all, the top folds of the wrapping. However, it is diflicult to secure a good rip on these top folds to tear open the pac age. This is especially true of packages having an outer cover of oil-paper or the like, which is hersealed, since all flaps are tightly pasted own. Moreover, the paper is tough and hard to tear.

My invention includes the provision of an opener 1, which is placed in the package 2 immediately below the top folds 3 thereof in such a way that, by flexing inwardly one part, such as 4, of the packa e, a portion 5 of the opener may be pushe through the opposite part, such as 6, of the package to such an extent that the end 5 of the opener may be grasped readily and easily and the opener manipulated to further cut or rip open the package to the desired extent.

Such opener may comprise a thin, flat sheet-metal member having a pointed end 5. The size and shape of the opener is such that it may be readily and easily completely enclosed in the package when it is packed, thus permitting the package to be hermetically sealed, if desired. For instance, after the cigarettes 7 have been placed in the package, and before the wrappings of the package have been folded down at the top, the opener 1 may be dropped in the package so as to rest flat on the tops of the cigarettes, and then the upper flaps 3 of the package may be brought together in the usual way and the revenue stamp 8 pasted thereover, and, if desired, an outer wrap er of oilpaper may be placed over all this and hermetically sealed. When so placed in a package, the pointed end 5 of the opener and its 0 posite end 9 are adapted to be so close to t e opposite portions 6 and 4 of the package that a person, by pressing these two portions toward each other at or adjacent the opener, may cause the opener to punc ture and protrude through a portion of the package, as above stated. The package may e further opened by means of the opener thereafter in many ways. For instance, the end 5 of the o ener may be bent upwardly, as shown in 1g. 3. In this case, the sides of the opener will rip open the top of the package along its sides. ever, the opener may be grasped and used in the manner of a paper knife to cut ofi the top of the package or a portion thereof. After the opener has served its purpose, it may easily be removed from the package by merely sliding it therefrom.

If desired, howenclosed in the container and havin Referring to Fig. 5, the opener may comprise a wire 10 suitably shaped so as to be enclosed in the top of the package and to extend between the two side portions 11 and 12 thereof. One end 13 of the wire is adj cent the wall 12 and the other end 14 isbent into a loop or other suitable configuration and is adjacent the wall 11. The end 13 is preferably sufficiently sharp to cut through the wall 12 easily. By flexing the package to move the portions 11 and 12 toward each other at the location of the opener 10, the opener may readily and easily be pushed through the wall 12 a suificient distance to permit it to be grasped and to be used to rip open the package.

Another form of opener is illustrated in Fig. 6. In this embodiment of my invention, the opener 15 is elliptical in shape and is formed of wire or a strip of sheet-metal or wood, or the like. Each end 16 and 17 of this elliptical opener is adapted to cut through the package from the inside, so that the package may be opened on either side by pressing against the opener through the package on the opposite side.

It is to be understood that my invention is not limited to cigarette packages, but applies as well to containers of various shapes, sizes and materials, and intended for various commodities. Moreover, the container need not be of thin paper, but may be of thick paper, cardboard or similar material. It is also to be understood that the opener may assume many different shapes and forms, and may be composed of various different materials without departing from the scope of my invent-ion.

What I claim is 1. The combination with a container having a wall, of an opener having a perforating end within the container, said end being movable endwise in said container with respect to said wall in such a way as to pierce through said wall from the inside and to protrude therefrom suii'iciently to be grasped by a persons fingers.

2. The combination with a container having two opposed portions movable one toward the other, of an opener within the container and extending endwise between said opposed portions and having a perforating end adjacent one of said portions, whereby movement of one of said portions toward the other'forces the perforating end of the opener endwise through the adjacent con tainer portion.

3. The combination with a container having two opposed wall portions movable one toward-the other, of an opener completely a erforating end directed endwise tower on of said wall portions and having another part adjacent the opposite container wall, whereby movement of one of said opposed wall portions toward the other forces the perforating end of the opener endwise through the adjacent container wall.

4. The combination with a container having two opposed wall portions movable one toward the other, ,of an opener completely ward each other.

enclosed within the container and having perforating means disposed adjacent the inside of each of said wallportions, whereby said wall portions are pierced from the inside when said wall portions are moved to- April, 1924.

JOHN P. CURRY. 

